Kris found a house, we both fell in love with it immediately. We rushed to make an offer.

Our offer was first — and good — but a second offer came in today. With knowledge of our offer, the other buyers were able to outbid us.

We are sad at heart.

We just spent three whole days pouring every spare moment into this dream, and we came up short by the slimmest of margins.

Woe are we.

(Kris notes that we’re not really house shopping. This just happened to be the Perfect House, and it appeared unexpectedly. Please don’t tell us about the house for sale in your neighborhood.)

Kris and I sulked after hearing our offer wasn’t accepted. Denise and Shannon (and Ryan) were over — dining on Mac‘s seafood pasta — when we got the news. I’m afraid that for the rest of the evening our minds were elsewhere, and we were less than perfect hosts.

Last night and this morning, we talked and thought and talked some more. For different reasons, we came to the same conclusion: We really are ready to move, ready to live in a house that we truly love. We decided to look around.

We lay in bed for hours, reading real estate magazines, looking at web sites, trying to find a house that we loved as much. No dice. There’s nothing even close.

Still, we found a couple that we liked enough to drive by. We set out this afternoon to do just that.

We were winding our way through Gladstone, looking at houses, when Mary (our real estate broker) gave us a buzz.

“J.D.,” she said. “The first offer backed out. The house is yours if you still want it.”

We were in a state of shock. We told her we needed to talk about it.

“Do you still want it?” I asked Kris.

“Of course I still want it,” she said.

We called Mary back to accept the counteroffer. “There’s a complication,” she said. “The seller’s Realtor is expecting another offer. If you don’t sign the papers by the time she receives that offer, she’s legally bound to present it to the seller.”

We zoomed to Custom Box Service where we waited by the fax machine for the documents to arrive. We waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And they came. We signed them in a hurry and faxed them back.

Mary called us a while later. “I talked with the seller’s agent,” she said. “She confirmed that she’d received your signed paperwork without any further counters, and that the other offer had not yet come in.”

“Does that mean the house is ours?” asked Kris.

“That means the house is yours,” Mary said.

We’re giddy with excitement, but we still don’t know whether to believe it.

Right now, our closing date is June 15th. Anyone want buy our house?

Rock on!

Comments

On 07 May 2004 (10:03 PM),Bad teacher said:

Boy do I know how you feel. I was just searching for houses moments ago. We’re in that limbo-land of having not quite sold our house (Joel, Amy sound familiar?) but are still thinking of “that number ($)” that our house will sell for AND THEN look for the dream house. I guess I’m not pacing around the house but I know the appeal. “House porn”.

Porn is such a great metaphor.

I’m in the middle of our school’s musical (Anything Goes) and the kids were commenting on how bad the story/plot is and I said, “Ya, it’s kind of like porn, it’s not about the plot but the “action”. In a musical the “action” takes place during the songs…

Corrupting young minds one ensemble at a time.

On 07 May 2004 (10:12 PM),Lisa said:

Ohhhhh… It’s a beauty–I’m so sorry that it didn’t work out.

On 07 May 2004 (10:24 PM),tammy said:

Oh JD it is so gorgeous! That is just not fair. People shouldn’t get to know about the original offer and if they do find out the owner should give the first people a chance to up their price.

I must say I am proud of myself for hitting the bulls eye in my guesses.

A sad end to the riddle it is. A rare gem it was indeed. Despair you must not. There are other gems out there….

You have only known of your dream a short while. In time, the dream shall become reality.

Patience….

On 08 May 2004 (05:30 PM),Lisa said:

Oooooh! I CANNOT wait to see this place in person. It looks beyond fabulous. Hope the inspection and all such stressful hurdles pass without incident.

On 08 May 2004 (06:49 PM),Mom (Sue) said:

Congratulations! It seems as if this was meant to be, the way it has come together for you. Will you be able to take the bookshelves in your computer room with you? You made such nice impreovements to that area. I wish you the best of luck with the move and selling your house!

On 08 May 2004 (08:13 PM),Lynn said:

That house is GORGEOUS! Congratulations! And I think one of your first new-home purchases had better be a riding lawnmower.

I’m so enamored of this house. I keep scrolling this page up-and-down, looking at each photo individually.

Just so you know: there are definitely problems with the house. The bathroom situation is woeful. Our top priority once we close on the deal is to remodel the main bathroom, which is located on the first floor. (All the bedrooms are on the second floor.) Before we even move in, we may have to replace the wallpaper in the living room and study. Also, the current owners just put down new carpeting (which I don’t like). Why did they do this? Are the hardwood floors in bad repair? Were they simply replacing old carpeting?

These are examples of our questions.

Many of our fears have been allayed, however, by the fact that the current owner reportedly had a full home inspection done before putting the house on the market. He made all the recommended repairs on the inspector’s report. This is comforting, if true.

More later, I promise! :)

On 10 May 2004 (08:51 AM),Cari said:

It’s beautiful! I can’t wait to see it! We close on our new house on June 11. Moving season, I guess. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!

On 10 May 2004 (11:03 AM),Virginia said:

JD, the house is gorgeous, It looks like a total dream. It is the style house that I love.

I am soooo happy for you and Kris.

Is the house in Canby? Maybe you already said but once I seen the pictures and that you actually get it, I couldn’t even read the rest of the blog.

On 10 May 2004 (11:07 AM),Virginia said:

OK, the house is in Oak Grove :-)

On 10 May 2004 (01:07 PM),Paul said:

J.D.,

If you need help with tiling the bathroom I’ll be glad to help. I’ve tiled our bathroom and the backsplash in our kitchen. It’s kind of fun but time consuming.

(We’ll be there in July!)

On 10 May 2004 (01:14 PM),Amy Jo said:

Oh goody. Kris and I can have tea parties in the garden . . . We can’t wait to see the house. It looks wonderful and sets my mind a flutter, thinking about a new house for Paul and I someday soon. Of course, we need to dig out from the paint cans and tools strewn about our current, hopefully soon to be sold house. I must admit, I hate to leave my garden now that it is finally taking on my character . . .

On 10 May 2004 (01:16 PM),Amy Jo said:

Paul and me . . .

On 10 May 2004 (04:24 PM),Shannon said:

Hey, congratulations to you both. I’m very happy for you. That was so sad when you thought you wouldn’t get it. How exciting. The pictures are great. It looks like it has a lot of character.
Denise and I had a great time. Thanks for having us over. I enjoyed the cd too. Thanks again.
Well, I wish you the best of luck with the closing. Hope everything goes well.
Keep us posted!

On 11 May 2004 (10:04 PM),ElizabethSwartzendruber said:

J.D. AND KRIS the house is absolutely beautiful. When after the 15th are you moving? I would love come see it sometime so let me know your new address and phone number.

On 18 February 2005 (07:07 PM),nelina said:

hi
nice to meet you i want to know is this house has a basment an 4 or 5 bedroon and at less 2 bathroon please let me know i really want to know i need to buy a house i have looking for a house for months